Hello Everyone!
                             I have another map to add to the blog tonight. This again was an earlier map we worked on in the first weeks of class and actually is from the same data presented in my first post. Again this map uses the 2010 Population data to create a colored display of the state of Massachusetts' population. I then normalized the map by the number of housing units in 2010 to create the new map below, which has a legend representing the towns by housing units. Then by placing the data in Excel, I was able to create two tables that show the top 5 towns and the bottom 5 towns by housing units. I also added a bar-graph of the top 10 largest cities within the state displayed by housing units too. This map helps us visualize the population of the state and how housing is available in each part. This map does not get into more detail about how many housing units are vacant or not, but it at least gives us a view of how developed or not the towns and cities are within the state. I hope you enjoy my work!

Good Evening Everyone! 
                                          Adding another post tonight that will be sharing a map I made earlier this semester. This map was focused on presenting the top 10 cities by population within Southeast Massachusetts. For those of you who are not as familiar with the geography of the the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, let me explain a bit more of our unique state. Massachusetts is basically a rectangular shaped state that stretches from the Berkshire mountains in the west, east through the hills of central Massachusetts to the coastline of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Cod juts out into the Atlantic from the southeastern edge, while Cape Ann, which is less prominent, stretches northeasterly into Mass Bay. In the southeastern portion of the state, small towns along the coast transition to small towns with wooded areas and farming parcels inland. But, several cities exist in this region including Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford and Taunton that once were booming industrial centers. Today, these cities' economies have changed although most have remnants of the past continuing, especially New Bedford as it is still an active port city, but the populations remain high in these urban built up areas. For this map, those four cities were examined, as well six smaller, but highly populated towns based on their 2000 U.S. Census data. For the map, we used the demographic data in an Excel table to focus on the population make-up, as well housing statistics to better understand the size of these cities. The final product attempted to focus in on the southeast region and these 10 cities, by presenting the map along with a few graphs and tables so you may read the data easier. Hope this map was helpful in understanding more about Massachusetts! 

Hello Everyone!
                            Here with another example of using ArcGIS Online to create maps using Excel data-sets. For this short  assignment we were allowed to create an Excel file using 10 locations we wanted to highlight in the world. For this project, I chose 10 cities that I have had the opportunity to live in and visit in my travels. I created the Excel sheet by adding the location of the cities, the states and countries they are in. I then added a short description in my own words of these places and found the websites for each city. I then was able to add an image copied from those city websites to show up in the ID of the city once you click on it in the online map. You will be able to click on the URL to link to the city's website to learn more about these places. I hope more of you get to visit these awesome places!

UFO Sightings Across the United States: "Do You Believe?"

My map:

Hello again Geographically minded folks! It's been awhile, but here is a new post using GIS to share some data. This post utilizes the ArcMap Online webpage, which is the online platform for ArcMap GIS programs where you are able to create maps that are easily accessible via the web. Using ArcMap Online, one can create a map from data they have already downloaded, then share it for online users to view with a bit more ease than opening up an ArcMap program on your computer. For this assignment we downloaded the UFO Sightings in the US table from a Wikipedia page and created an Excel sheet with the data. We then simply added the data to ArcGIS online and gave it bright orange location markers. Now, when you open the online map, you can click on the location markers to read about the UFO incidents that occurred in those locations. This was a simple, quick assignment, I hope to practice a few more similar maps that are easy and fun to show how GIS data can be used. Enjoy!...(Are we alone??)...

Wiki Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_sightings_in_the_United_States